Foreword

The following material is designed for the sound performer or musician
who wishes to explore new musical boundaries, or to expand one's
musical vocabulary. The material exists as a resource for sound
artists, performers, and musicians who wish to develop a natural,
more relaxed approach to the problems associated with sound
presentation, including new ways of addressing rehearsal and
performance practices.

The book is divided into two sections. The first section includes
general definitions of various musical subjects including sound
sources, the elements of music, the perception of music, and
performance issues, as well as a treatise concerning the musical
representation of physical events in the real world. In the various
subjects outlined in the first section, I have made an attempt to
clarify generic terms such as sound and music, hearing and listening,
musical content, language and syntax, and to help clarify what have
historically been ambiguous points of concern, such as the distinction
between structure and form, style and genre, concept and idea. In
addition, I have defined general categories of performance which
include technical considerations, content development, musicianship,
performance context, and the total performance state.

The second section consists of the studies themselves, which explore the
elements of musical texture (i.e. pitch, dynamics, duration, rhythm,
etc.), structures (ratio, repetition, variation, continuity,
simultaneity), forms (musical forms, abstract forms, forms in nature,
simulations and models), concepts and ideas (musical ideas,
non-musical ideas, presentational ideas), as well as specific
performance issues (focus and relaxation, projection and resonance,
timing, tone control, spontaneity, endurance). For each of the
studies, there is a detailed discussion of the subject, followed by a
set of instructions which take the form of various exercises. In addition,
there is an introduction which precedes the studies which is intended
to aid the performer in the use of the exercises.

On the whole, the material contained in this book is intended to serve
as a comprehensive resource or syllabus in which performers of varied
backgrounds and interests may explore and expand their own musical
idioms, directions, and goals. The studies themselves comprise a
method for creating unique musical patterns and textures, for
expanding the techniques used to explore and realize new and existing
musical ideas, and for representing non-musical events in real
time.